2018 Winter Olympics: Meet The 18 Olympians From New York

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — The United States — and New York — will be well-represented in South Korea at the 2018 Winter Olympics. When the opening ceremony kicks off in Pyeongchang on Feb. 9, there will be 18 athletes from the Empire State marching in the United States delegation.

The winter games take place over two weeks, with the closing ceremony on Feb. 25. North and South Korea's delegations will march under one flag at the opening ceremony, a diplomatic milestone for the two countries. The opening ceremony and the games will be broadcast on NBC.

The U.S. Olympic team is comprised of 242 athletes, including 135 men and 107 women. New York's contingent of 18 athletes is the fourth-largest of any state, behind Minnesota's 19, California's 22 and Colorado's 31.

The state's delegation has no athletes from the Hudson Valley or New York City. Four are from Long Island, but several come from upstate cities such as Buffalo, Rochester and Lake Placid.

The Empire State's athletes will be competing in ice hockey, luge, skeleton, biathlon, bobsled, alpine skiing and freestyle skiing. The youngest is 20-year-old skiier Morgan Schild of Pittsford, and the oldest is 39-year-old hockey forward Brian Gionta of Rochester.

The 18 athletes from New York representing the United States in South Korea are as follows:

• Lowell Bailey of Lake Placid, biathlon
• Codie Bascue of Whitehall, bobsled
• Tommy Biesemeyer of Keene, alpine skiing
• Tim Burke of Lake Placid, biathlon
• John Daly of Smithtown, skeleton
• Matt Gilroy of Bellmore, ice hockey
• Brian Gionta of Rochester, ice hockey
• Jordan Greenway of Canton, ice hockey
• Erin Hamlin of Remsen, luge
• Justin Krewson of Eastport, luge
• David Leggio of Buffalo, ice hockey
• Jon Lillis of Rochester, freestyle skiing
• Chris Mazdzer of Saranac Lake, luge
• Matt Mortensen of Huntington Station, luge
• Emily Pfalzer of Buffalo, ice hockey
• Maddie Phaneuf of Old Forge, biathlon
• Morgan Schild of Pittsford, freestyle skiing
• Andrew Weibrecht of Lake Placid, alpine skiing

Click here for a full schedule of the games from NBC so you can catch all your favorite athletes.

Written by Noah Manskar, Patch Staff.

Photo caption: Freestyle skier Emily Cook of the U.S. competes at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Photo credit: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images.